


1. IOLAR: No. 1

by Ronny Ciccio (IOLAR_EIRE)



Series: IOLAR [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Animated), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 02:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6356131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IOLAR_EIRE/pseuds/Ronny%20Ciccio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new figure is trying to make a name for himself, fighting crime in Gotham City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. IOLAR: No. 1

Night 1: First Patrol – The Bowery  
A crouched figure watches from the shadows of the rooftops, one combat boot perched on the roof’s edge. The wind is biting at his face. “It’s always cold here. I hate the weather in Gotham” he mutters under his breath. Even with the hood and mask, he can still feel it.  
The street below is dark and quiet, lit by orange street lamps and the occasional neon sign smattered across the red bricks of the row of beat down buildings. The kind of place where crime is born and raised.  
He’s been watching these blocks for weeks, learning the habits of the gangs. “Gotta start small, and build up from there” he thinks to himself. He notices an old man across the street locking up his store for the night. The two men in the car parked across from the door do too. The driver drops a cigarette out the window as he exits the car. He begins to move to cut the man off from entering his car as the second man splits off to attack from behind. “So we’ve got thug 1 and thug 2.”  
“It’s nothing original, but at least it is in character with the local gang. Two thugs scoping out a vulnerable business. So my homework’s paid off”. He leaps into action and descends the outside of the fire escape, dropping every second level. He quickly moves across the street, staying low and moving swiftly to not make any noise, closing in.  
“Give me the day’s takings!” A chrome Beretta handgun stares the old man in the face, the only thing shining in the dark street. Thug 2 starts hitting his palm with a baseball bat, a confident smile slides across his face. The arm stretches out to push the barrel closer to the shivering man, the fear showing behind his round glasses. “I won’t say it again, we are going to get paid. One way or the other.” Thug 1 escalates the threats to shock the man into action. It has to be quick, there’s a quota tonight. Same as the last night and the next.  
“Intimidation, huh? Meet mine” Crunch! The air whistles for a split second and then there is the cracking noise. The gun descends to the pavement. Thug 1 starts to realise what has happened as he begins to grab his wrist. He opens his mouth and a figure dressed in dark clothes with blue highlights moves in between him and the old man, fist pulled back. A piece of black curved plastic covers his entire face reflecting the street before him. For a split second, the figure stays still staring them down.  
“Remember, centre of the face for maximum effect, minimum time”. Thug 1 stumbles back against a car. The man steps around the old man as he is frozen in place. The man takes a handle from his side and a curved stick extends out from it. Thug 2 swings and there’s a tink, his bat is locked with the curved stick. He sees the man’s eyes behind an upper face mask. The determination shows, and confidence. It puzzles him, not like the rest of the wannabe vigilantes in homemade costumes.  
He breaks the lock, kicks the outside leg and locks thug 2’s arm so he can’t move. He starts punching thug 2 across the face to wear him down, the knuckle protectors on his gloves can take the impact. Then he throws him against the wall. He turns to face thug 1 again and then feels a sharp whack to the side of his face. He spins and stumbles back to create space. Thug 1 had a hidden baton and gotten behind him as he was whaling on Thug 2 too long.  
“Shit! Rookie mistake” He shakes it off, the mask and neck armour took the brunt of the strike. He straightens up and faces the two men. He spots the old man behind them. “Go home, I’ll take care of this” The man turned on his heels and ran. Thug 2 began to turn to chase him, but thug 1 stopped him. “Don’t worry about him, we can find another. This guy here is the bigger problem, bosses will want him taken care of”.  
The two men start to close in together. Thug 2 swings first, the man side steps it. He grabs thug 2 by the wrist on his second attempt. Thug 1 winds up his baton. The man kicks the side of his knee and strikes the side of their neck. He releases thug 2 and punches thug 1’s head into a car door. They step away and turn to face Thug 2.  
He begins to strike at thug 2 with the curved stick. Thug 2 attempts to block them but eventually their bat is knocked to the side and the man jabs the butt of his curved stick into thug 2’s nose.  
“Aaaah, fugking ash-hole” thug 2 takes a few steps back and raises his hand to his face. A few red drops spill from the gaps in his fingers and hit the pavement.  
Thug 1 begins to stand up, slouching against a car to support themselves. He looks up to see the man in front of him. He jabs down the curved stick into his foot. The pain shoots up his body and he starts to scream “Fuuuuccc—“  
While he was yelling, the man had moved the stick straight up to hit him in the soft spot under his chin. The man held it in place. Thug 1 eventually slumps off to the side and is laid out on the street cold. Thug 2 starts stepping away and begins to run to the car and takes off.  
“My intimidation worked. Not bad for my first night officially on the job. That’s enough for tonight” The man moves back into the shadows and the street is quiet yet again.

Night 2: Second Patrol – The Bowery  
Another night, another crack at breaking the cycle. This time he is on the other side of the neighbourhood. This is closer to the more civilised parts of town. A few bars and restaurants pop up by the borders. Hoping to entice in those who don’t know any better while using the low rent.  
Tonight he watches a nightclub, the music spills on to the street. Drunken customers exiting to “lighten up”, young students stumbling in taxis down the road. They are wise enough to not stop too near. A long walk for vulnerable targets.  
No one will bother reporting a crime here. The nightclub is owned by a local crime boss. “Gotta admire a businessman who makes money inside and outside the door” sneers the dark figure. “This night’s takings will be light.” A confident grin across his face.  
A lone young man stumbles outside of the club, he lazily looks around with a blank expression. He squints at the taxis in the distance to his right, but doesn’t walk towards them. Instead he turns left and starts to walk.  
Two men appear from a dark alleyway as he passes. Game time.  
It’s the same tactic as the previous night, one splits to cut off the victim while the second waits behind to block off their escape. “Let’s call them Mug 1 and Mug 2 this time” he whispers as he ducks from car to car across the street.  
He can begin to hear that things are getting heated.  
“Give us everything in your pockets!”  
The drunk shakes his head and shouts at them to back off, he pushes Mug 1 in front of him. Mug 2 steps in and delivers a swift punch to his kidneys. The young man falls to one knee and grips his side. Mug 1 grabs his collar and lands a solid hit across the man’s face. Mug 2 is watching on.  
And then he strikes, he grabs Mug 2’s shoulders from behind and stamps down on the back of his knee. Mug 2 falls to his knees and screams. He felt a pop after the stomp, Mug 2 isn’t getting up for a while.  
The scream grabs Mug 1’s attention and he looks up to see something black approaching him, fast. There’s a thud on impact. The dark figure had used Mug 2 as a vaulting post and swung over him to deliver a swift kick to Mug 1’s head. Mug 1 is knocked onto his back. As he begins to lift himself up he can see a crouched figure in front of him. He is silhouetted by the flickering street lamps. The figure reaches for his side and pulls out a handle which extends with a metallic clink as it locks in place.  
He rises slowly while watching the shock on Mug 1’s face. He extends his free hand, palm open and waves his fingers in towards him. If he wanted a fight tonight, he will give him one.  
Mug 1 pulls himself back up a reaches behind his back with his right hand. He produces a Taser. He raises an eyebrow under his mask, “Now, that’s new. Interesting.” Mug 1 lunges forward with the Taser. The dark figure quickly reacts and ducks under the attack. He moves to Mug 1’s side as he striking across his stomach with his curved stick. He can hear Mug 1 exhale sharply. He turns back around to face Mug 1 who is gasping for breath.  
He grabs the stick with both hand and swings into Mug 1’s upper arm, there’s loud thump as it impacts. Mug 1 drops the Taser as his hand starts to tremble from the pain.  
The man retracts the stick and places it by his side. He steps forward “I want you to tell your boss that this neighbourhood will not be controlled by your tyranny any-“. He cuts short as he suddenly experiences a sharp pain in his side. “Shit.” He remembers his training, he hasn’t felt that pain in a long time.  
He looks down and sees a silver edge protruding from his side. His breaths begin to get shallower as crimson begins to seep around the knife. He gives a short cough and peers up to see the drunk man holding the knife.  
He stares determinedly into his eyes with an evil grin on his face. He pushes him off and takes a few steps back.  
Mug 1 picks up the Taser with his left hand and begins to walk forward with the young man. “The boss wanted us to bring you in. But we might as well cut to the chase. He knew you couldn’t resist.” The young man takes a swing but the man dodges and punches him in the stomach. Mug 1 jabs at him with the Taser. He tries to move but the stab slows him down too much.  
He can feel the electricity pump into his side and he lets out a cry as he falls to his side. Mug 1 and the young man begin to start kicking him. They are laughing.  
Then suddenly, one of them is lifted off him. The other man screams and runs away. The man rolls on his knees and faces down towards the pavement. He grits his teeth while slowing his breaths. He has to clog the hole. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a syringe with a clear gel inside it. He jabs it into his side and pumps the gel inside. It expands and he can feel it push outwards as it fizzes.  
He stabilizes his breathing and places his hand on his side to fell the wound. The gel is still slightly soft but will hold. He lifts his head up and hears a rough voice talking down at him  
“You need medical attention.” He turns his head to see a tall dark silhouette against the street.  
He retorts “I’ll be fine. I just need to get out of here”  
-“That wasn’t a request. You’re done here. I’m taking you to Gotham General.”  
“I’m not going to a hospital. I may be injured but I will not be going anywhere with you.”  
The tall figure scowls and finally sighs “Fine. I won’t take you to a hospital, but you WILL receive medical attention.”  
There’s a rumbling in the distance and it grows closer. The man stumbles to his feet and looks down the road to see bright headlamps approaching at speed. There’s a screeching noise as it stops inches away from the tall dark figure.  
“Look up”  
-“What?” before he knows it, he feels himself getting hit by a powerful uppercut. The impact knocks him and he sees the street fade to black as he is falling.

Night 2: First Lecture – The Bat Cave  
He opens his eyes again to a blinding light. He blinks and sits up to see he is on a medical table. He quickly raises his hand to his face to check for his mask. It’s still there.  
It takes a while for his eyes to come into focus as he tries to gather his surroundings. He can see a few pieces of advanced tech scattered about platforms. He can only see darkness in the distance. This place must be huge, and that darkness. I must be underground he ponders to himself.  
He spots a small boy scowling at him across from the table. He is sitting on a cabinet with his arms crossed. He has a red costume and short cape. A bit early for Halloween he thinks.  
The dark figure returns with a tray of medical supplies. Now that he is under lights, he can tell who the figure is. Batman, so this must be the Bat Cave. Or one of them at least.  
“I don’t trust him. You shouldn’t have brought him here.”  
-“Well it’s my call Robin.” Batman lays down the tray near the table.  
Robin lets out a huff and scowls even more determinedly at the man on the table.  
Batman begins to thread a needle to sew close the wound. The man stretches and arm out and proclaims “Stop. I’ll do it myself. I know how. I just need a solvent to break down the sealant first.”  
Batman gets up and retrieves a bottle from the cabinet under Robin. The man takes the bottle and a cotton pad from the tray and begins to clear away the sealant outside the wound to expose the skin.  
He takes the needle and begins to stitch himself back up.  
“You’re not going to clear out inside the wound?” Batman queries.  
-“No, the sealant compound has disinfectants and breaks down organically while promoting tissue repairs.”  
“Impressive. You seem to have training and experience.”  
-“Thanks. I –“  
“But your vigilante career ends here”  
He stares at Batman.  
-“That’s not going to happen.”  
“I think it is. You almost got yourself killed out there tonight”  
-“Injured yes, killed no. I can patch myself up.”  
“That kind of risk is too great a chance to take. You’re not ready for this.”  
-“You don’t stop crime without taking some risks. You prepare and plan. But the real world doesn’t always go to plan. So you take those risks. You learn and you get better.”  
“And you think getting beaten up by some street thugs will accomplish that?”  
The man stands up off the table. He’s determined to have his say.  
-“Listen, I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think I had potential. I knew you were probably watching me while I was preparing. I know you’ve seen me fight. You know that I am not a regular civilian trying to pick a fight with some thieves. And now you know that I have tech knowledge. You took my bokken and gear so I assume you analysed that. If you think I am not ready, then train me. But you won’t stop me”  
Batman is silent for a moment. Finally Robin butts in “You cannot be taking this guy seriously?”  
Batman responds “He is right. I have been watching him. Your fighting style doesn’t match any military or martial arts, at least the public ones. It’s a practical mixture of many styles. You watched that gang and gathered intelligence on their routines and capabilities. So you have training, but from who I don’t know yet. And your tech is impressive. You have experience with micro-technology but nothing matches existing companies so you had to create it yourself.”  
Robin looks to the man for his response.  
-“So the problem is that you don’t trust me. There are too many unknowns. I can’t tell you who I am and how I know what I do. Not yet. But you can trust me. Train me and you will see that I can help make a difference.”  
Batman takes a step forward and extends his hand.  
“So what do I call you then?”  
-“Call me iolar”  
“iolar? That’s not an English word. Is it a Gaelic dialect?”  
-“It’s Irish, a reference to my heritage”  
“Well then iolar, You will be in The Bowery next Monday and we will begin to your training and see what you are capable of.”  
He gets dressed and takes his gear back.  
-“I will see you next week then. Just drop me off where you found me and I will find my way home.”  
Batman stops him before he walks to the Batmobile  
“Wait. I have a question. Why do you use a bokken? It is a training weapon for sword fighting martial arts, not a weapon.”  
-“I use the bokken because it can be used to defeat someone, not kill them. I want to stop crime, and murder is not the answer for that.”  
iolar thinks he can spot a slight smile in Batman’s expression but any trace of it disappears quickly.  
-“Also, thanks for not removing my mask.”  
“I tried. But I couldn’t break the security locks.”  
iolar laughs and places a blindfold on himself before stepping into the Batmobile passenger seat.  
After the batmobile’s engines roar fades away, Robin moves down to the Bat computer and frowns at the results onscreen. “Blood Analysis Complete: No DNA records found”.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is the first part in an ongoing series. More parts will posted up in the future as they are written.


End file.
